Pedro Pascal names his pick for “the greatest American actor”

Pedro Pascal has singled out the actor that he considers to be “the greatest American actor in our lifetime”.

The star of The Last of Us and The Mandalorian was speaking at a ceremony in Hollywood yesterday (January 8) for the unveiling of a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The star being unveiled was for the actor Willem Dafoe, and in his speech to the audience at the event, which also included Guillermo Del Toro, Patricia Arquette and Mark Ruffalo, Pascal lavished his fellow actor with praise.

“I saw Platoon in the movie theatre with my father and he made me cry so hard my dad sent me to the bathroom,” Pascal said.

“He redefines the concept of rebel and originality by making it about generosity, integrity, kindness and fun. Willem is a good time and an amazing friend.”

“He has been my greatest teacher,” Pascal continued about Dafoe, with whom he co-starred in the 2017 film The Great Wall. “I’ll go as far to say he is the greatest American actor in our lifetime. You cannot compare his career to anyone’s, truthfully.”

Dafoe is known for playing a wide range of characters throughout his career in mainstream and arthouse films. He played the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, and has appeared as Nuidis Vulko in the DC Extended Universe. He has also been nominated for four Oscars, for Platoon (1986), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Florida Project (2017) and At Eternity’s Gate (2018).

Dafoe is currently starring in Poor Things, a darkly comedic fantasy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster), which sees Emma Stone’s character being brought back to life by Dafoe, who plays a Frankenstein-like scientist in the film.

The film won at Sunday night’s Golden Globes ceremony, taking home Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Stone.

Poor Things is released in UK cinemas on Friday (January 12).

In a recent interview, Dafoe also said that he doesn’t think “challenging” movies are popular anymore, thanks to the onset of streaming.

“The kind of attention that people give at home isn’t the same,” he said. “More difficult movies, more challenging movies can not do as well, when you don’t have an audience that’s really paying attention. That’s a big thing.”

“I miss the social thing of where movies fit in the world. You go see a movie, you go out to dinner, you talk about it later, and that spreads out. People now go home, they say, ‘Hey, honey, let’s watch something stupid tonight,’ and they flip through and they watch five minutes of 10 movies, and they say, forget it, let’s go to bed. Where’s that discourse found?”

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